1

Developing Measurable

IEP Goals

2

Do Now Activity Consider the

following

statement:

“Goals are not

written, they are

developed.”

3

Introductions

Arlene B. Crandall

Regional Special Education Training Specialist

RSE-TASC

acrandal@esboces.org

Attendee introductions

4

Agenda & Materials

• Power Point Handout

• Tools

• Activities

Training Goals

Understand the relationship between:

Present Levels of Performance

&

Measurable Annual Goals

Develop measurable IEP goals

6 1) Present Level Of Performance

9) Participation in State Assessments,

& with Students without Disabilities

8) Coordinated Set of Transition Activities

2) Measurable Post Secondary Goals and Transition Needs

7) Testing Accommodations

6) 12 month Services (if needed)

5) Programs and Services – Modifications &

Supports

4) Reporting progress to parents

3) Annual Goals, Objectives / Benchmarks (if needed)

10) Special Transportation

11) Placement Development

and

Sections of

the IEP

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PLPs are the Foundation of the IEP

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Key words or phrases

The PLP provides the informational basis

(what the student does now) for generating

goals, supports and services that are

specifically designed to meet the student’s

individual needs and begin to prepare them

to select and reach their post-secondary goals.

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Present Levels of Performance

You cannot know how far you have come

if you don’t know where you started.

PLP

Goal

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PLP Information Comes From:

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Create a clear picture of the student.

If the student moved

to Montana

tomorrow,

could the new teacher

read the PLP

and know his/her

instructional

strengths & needs?

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Why Develop Goals?

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Why Develop Goals?

align student’s program with

learning standards

guide monitoring of progress

toward meeting the standards

assess appropriateness of

services in supporting the

student in meeting goals

provide meaningful reports to

parents about actual growth

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Goals Provide an

Instructional Roadmap

“Would you tell me please, which way I

ought to go from here? …

That depends on where you want to get to. ”

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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An Annual Goal is…

“a statement that identifies

what knowledge, skills and/or

behaviors a student is expected

to be able to demonstrate within

the year during which the IEP

will be in effect.”

IEP Guide, page 30

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Annual Goals

Individualized

Prioritized

Reasonable

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Key Questions for Prioritizing Goals:

• What is preventing this student from participating in a less restrictive environment and/or from progressing in the general education curriculum?

• What foundation skill needs cross multiple content areas and settings? (e.g. reading)

• How many goals are reasonable given the student’s abilities and rate of progress?

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Accessing the General

Education Curriculum

Develop goals that answer the question:

“What skills does the student

require to master the content of

the curriculum?”

NOT

“What curriculum content does the

student need to master?”

OG

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Backward Design Goal: What skill/behavior do you want to see change?

Schedule:

How frequently should I evaluate performance and make adjustments?

Method:

How will the performance be recorded? Who will record the performance?

Criteria Period:

How long will it take to demonstrate proficiency?

Criteria:

What is my standard for performance?

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What makes goals

measurable?

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Observable? ……. Or Not?

• Point to

• Circle

• Spell orally

• List in writing

• Read orally

• Walk

• Count

• State

• Understand

• Know

• Grasp the meaning of

• Remember

• Identify

• Enjoy

• Be familiar with

• Participate in

What does it look like? Will you know it when you see it?

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Sample Goal Template

Annual Goal Criteria

Method

Schedule

Given what

Student will…

do what

to what

extent/

How well

AND

Over what

period of time

Tangible

method to

evaluate

How often

you

evaluate

Student does this Adult does this

(The Final Exam) (The Task) (The Tool) (How often do

I check in?)

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Criteria How well must the

student perform and over what period of time?

-accuracy

-duration

-frequency

-speed

-distance

-# of trials

-time frame

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Criteria

Goals may need more

than one criterion

• 50 words /min. with 3 or

fewer errors (to what

extent & how well)

• 85% accuracy over 5

consecutive trials (criteria

& criteria period)

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Criteria: measurement data

collection strategies (Kosnitsky, 2008)

1. Duration – how long a behavior lasts (amount of time on task)

2. Frequency – how often a behavior occurs (number of times student raises hand and waits to be called on)

3. Latency – length of time between stimuli and response (time it takes for student to begin work after teacher gives directions)

4. Interval – percentage of time a behavior occurs (percentage of time a student is rocking)

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Criteria: Some Guidelines

• Start with the baseline data in the PLP

• Be realistic, but aim high

Ask yourself: “To what degree and

for what length of time does the

student have to demonstrate this

skill/behavior to show he/ she has

achieved the goal?”

Hmmm...

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The Legend of 80%

“Tommy will successfully cross the street

at the crosswalk, without staff assistance

80% of the time.”

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Method for Evaluation How will you measure progress?

• Scoring of work sample using a rubric

• Curriculum-Based Measurement probe

• Observation with behavior checklist/rubric

• Review of statistics

NOT: Teacher Observation or Teacher Assessment;

what is seen is recorded in objective, non- judgmental statements

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Plan to

Measure

Progress

1. What kind of

data will be

collected?

2. Who will

collect data?

3. Where will

data be

collected?

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Schedule for Evaluation

How often do you review

collected data?

Examples:

» Daily

» Weekly

» Monthly

» Fourth week of each quarter

» Every 5 weeks

» On January 5, March 15, and June 3

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The Schedule is NOT:

• When you will report progress to the

parent (this goes in a separate section of the IEP)

• “By June” (Too late to re-evaluate)

– Is this strategy working or not?

– Data helps you make an informed

instructional decision

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Example from case law…

“Chris will improve his behavior

from non-appropriate to appropriate

through teacher intervention and

small group instruction by June.”

Can this goal be changed to make it measurable?

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Examples

Not Measurable

Emily will improve reading/

decoding skills

Michael will improve his

attention

Michele will improve her

writing skills

Measurable

Given 10 CVC words Emily will read

Eight words with no more than

three errors

Michael will remain seated for 15

minutes during circle time

Given lined paper Michele will copy

all 26 upper-case letters writing on

the line

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Narrative Goal Template

Given (conditions, accommodations)*, student name

will (do what), (to what extent) & (over what period of time)

or (by when) as evaluated by ______________.

*This portion is not always required

Example:

Given a 4-function calculator, Sue will solve ten

one-step word problems using addition and

subtraction with 90% accuracy on three consecutive

weekly trials as evaluated by scoring of teacher

made assessments every two weeks.

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Use data for Developing Goals

PLP Present level data PLP needs Annual Goals

•85 wpm @ 2.5 GE

what he can do

•40 wpm @ 4.0GE

• uses initial and final letter

cues

•doesn’t use medial sounds

•doesn’t self correct

•Random errors

•abandons attempts to self

correct

How many errors?

What kinds of errors?

•develop decoding

strategies…

•practice fluent reading …to

build sight vocabulary

•employ self-correction

strategies…esp .when

miscues interrupt meaning

What specially designed

instruction is implied by

these needs?

(Given specially designed

instruction)

The student will achieve…

The Annual Goal

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Annual Goal Template

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

Given 3rd grade

passage,

Damien will

read orally at 90

wpm

•with 50%

self-

correction,

in 3

consecutive

trials

1 minute

oral

reading

probe

with

charting

of wpm,

running

record

bi-weekly

Developing Goals for Damien

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1. On the Damien

example, highlight a

needs/skill deficit

2. Find evaluative data

from the PLP that

relates to the area

of need and

highlight it to match

the need

3. Record this information on

your template.

4. Generate a list of

questions that will need to

be answered to document

needs in measurable terms

5. Write a measurable goal to

address that need.

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Example Using Sample Goal Template

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

Given a four

function

calculator

Sue will solve 10

one-step word

problems using

addition and

subtraction

with 90%

accuracy

AND

on three

consecutive

weekly trials

As evaluated

by scoring of

teacher-

made

assessments

Every

two

weeks

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PLP: Tom reads 30 high frequency words with

4 - 6 errors.

Measurable Annual Goal: Reading

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

Given 50 high

frequency word

cards in a 1-1

setting, Tom will

read each word

orally

with 95%

accuracy on 2

consecutive

trials

Assessed by

charting of

error count by

the reading

teacher

Two times

per month

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PLP: Jon names letters and associates them with

corresponding sounds with 4 – 5 errors.

Measurable Annual Goal: Letter-Sound Identification

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

When presented

with plastic letters

one at a time,

Jonathan will name

each letter and

produce its sound

with 100%

accuracy for all

26 letters of the

alphabet during

3 speech

sessions

Assessed by

the speech

therapist

charting of

error count

weekly

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PLP: Matt answers comprehension questions based on single

paragraph passages using fourth grade text

Measurable Annual Goal: Reading Comprehension

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

Given a multi-

paragraph passage

using fifth grade text

Matt will read

silently and then

answer

comprehension

questions in writing

9 out of 10

times on three

consecutive

trials

evaluated by

teacher

generated tests

and

standardized

assessments

monthly

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PLP: Mike reads 4th grade material at 50-70 wpm with 4-6 errors.

Measurable Annual Goal: Reading Fluency

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

Given 5th grade

material, Mike will

read orally 100-110

wpm

with 1-3 errors

over 3

consecutive

trials

1 minute oral

reading probe

with charting

of wpm and

error count

weekly

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ACTIVITY: Measurable Goals

•Review the goals on your IEP

•Determine if they are

measurable

•If not, rewrite two goals so

they are observable and

measurable.

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Making Social Goals

Measurable • Start with the Big Idea; in general, what do you

want to see happen? Then…

• What observable behavior will demonstrate the

Big Idea (change in attitude, self-esteem, etc.)?

For example, “improved social skills” may be

demonstrated by:

• number of peer interactions

• time engaged in conversation

• choice of play activities

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Making Social Goals Measurable “will improve peer relationships” becomes…

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

Given 20 minutes of

play time, Sam will

engage in interactive

play with peers for at

least 10 minutes

3 out of 4 trials

over 2 weeks

Direct

observation

with timing of

interactive

play

monthly

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Making Social Goals

Measurable

Annual Goal

Criteria

Method

Schedule

When asked by his

counselor, Mike will

state 3 positive

school-related

achievements

3 positive

statements,

3 consecutive

monthly

sessions

Statements

recorded in

counselor

notes

Once per

month

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Short Term Objectives

Short Term Objectives break down the skills into discrete

components or sub-skills

(Task analysis)

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Benchmarks

indicate

measurable

intermediate

steps

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Objectives or Benchmarks

Given this goal:

Using his augmentative communication

device, Billy will respond to “wh”

questions with a minimum of 2 symbol

responses with one verbal prompt,

across all settings.

Write 3-4 benchmarks or objectives to

support the attainment of the goal.

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Common IEP Development

Pitfalls

• Not individualized

• Vagueness

• Myths of measurability

(verb, %, jargon)

• Not focused on skills

• Trying to do too much vs.

focusing on priority needs

• Lack of data

• Lack of connection to

standards and general

education

• Repeating the same

goal, even though no

progress is seen

(re-prioritize)

• Lack of connectivity

between PLP, goals,

accommodations,

modifications, and

services

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Summary for Developing

Measurable Goals

• Be sure that each goal is properly aligned

with a current level of performance

• There must be a clear relationship between

identified needs, annual goals, and services

• Be sure that the amount of progress

projected in the goal is reasonable, takes

into account the student’s ability, and

assumes appropriate and effective

individualized instruction

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Summary for Developing

Measurable Goals (cont’d)

• Do NOT repeat the same goal year after year. If this occurs either the goal is inappropriate or the service is not appropriate for the student.

• EVERY goal must have an observable behavior and specific criterion against which it can be assessed.

• Measure the student’s progress toward the goal.

• Use progress data that has been collected to update the PLP for the following year.

A measurable goal not measured is 100% useless

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Resources

• IEP Goals That Make a Difference: An Administrator’s Guide to Improving the Process. Kosnitsky, Carol. 2008. LRP Publications

• Designing & Teaching Learning Goals & Objectives: Classroom Strategies That Work. Marzano, Robert J. 2009. Marzano Research Laboratory

• Guide to Quality Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development and Implementation.

The University of the State of New York, The

State Education Department. February 2010.